the hall. Eidola snatched up a torch from its sconce and ran after her.
Neither woman spared a glance back. The maid fled around a comer. Eidola followed in a whisper of white lace. Piergeiron could not keep up. He rounded the comer. A dead-end hall lay beyond, and in it, Eidola, facing down the maid.
The girl held her hands out before her as though in apology, but her fingernails were flexed, claw like.
'Forgive me. It's just a little tea,' the servant mewled. *T got so scared when I spilt it-'
'What is your name?' demanded Piergeiron, stepping slowly forward. 'Who hired you? When did you start? What is your name?'
Eidola did not even await a reply, lunging with the fiery brand.
The torch arced toward upraised hands that became talons, with claws as long as scythe blades. Those claws caught the burning brand and held it. The maid's smooth throat transformed into a long, plate-covered thing with hard shells and thick black hairs sprouting from it. The woman's young face changed into the hoary-jowled head of a greater jackal. Her livery split to reveal a canine body.
'A shapeshifter!' cried Piergeiron. He drew his ornamental long sword. Halcyon, snapping the peace-strings with a mighty yank, and dived between the beast and his bride.
The gnoll-creature raked Piergeiron with its brutal claws. Razor-tipped nails shrieked across silver armour and sent showers of sparks to the floor. A talon snagged on his armour and tore free.
The creature began a howl of rage. Piergeiron thrust with Halcyon. The beast spun away. A jab that would have split its heart lanced its side instead.
The thing began to transform again. Its shaggy feet became cloven hooves, its legs the haunches of a goat, its belly bald and red… Though the transformation swept over the creature in a flash. Piergeiron struck again before the change was complete. His sword whirled through changing flesh and sliced into the monster's dark heart. Blood as black as ink shot forward, and the beast, in mid transformation, crumpled.
As it fell, Piergeiron drew forth his ornamental long sword. The blood in the filigreed etchings hissed like acid. Beyond the smoking blade, the monster lay still upon the floor Piergeiron knelt beside the thing, his sword yet at the ready as he checked it for breath.
'It's dead,' he announced solemnly.
Piergeiron's bodyguard loped up behind Eidola and skidded to a halt. He puffed aside his jagged bangs and stared at the bride and groom, their hair wild and their faces streaming sweat. Then he glanced at the slain beast before them. Madieron turned as white as an albino rabbit.
Up behind him came two more guards, startled and breathless. 'What is it?' gasped one.
'Malaugrym, or so I guess,' said Piergeiron. 'The Ones Who Watch. Shapcshifters from beyond Faerun. They think this world their chessboard. They've brought down many rulers with ruses less devious than-' He suddenly stopped in choked realization. He turned toward his bride and embraced her. 'You're safe. That… that thing must have been stalking you when the apprentice startled it. It must have thought he was casting a spell on it, perhaps stripping away the disguise '
Eidola lowered her torch so that it shed light on her dress. She stared ruefully at me stain. 'Guard this body,” Piergeiron said to Madieron. 'You two, find the Blackstaff and Sandrew the Wise. They'll want to check it over.' He took his bride by the arm and gestured down the hall. 'Shall we?'
Eidola nodded, and together the pair strolled away, as though walking from a sunny picnic in a park.
The two older guards turned knowing glances on the bodyguard. 'It's a shame, you guarding this dead thing when you should be guarding the Open Lord'
Madieron flushed beneath his haystack of hair. He managed a half-shrug. 'My orders.' The corpse seemed to be slowly changing shape, shrinking and turning grey.
A friendly hand clapped onto Madieron's side. 'Tell you what. I'll go get the Blackstaff and Sandrew, Harl here will guard the corpse, and you can get back to duty. The Open Lord shouldn't be unprotected, what with monsters like this roaming the palace.'
Ever concerned about Piergeiron's safety, Madieron blinked in obvious relief, shrugged again, and rushed away after Piergeiron.
Smiling sarcastically, one of the guards waved the lumbering warrior away. By the time he disappeared around the comer, the waving hand had become a claw…
Chapter 2
Noph saw it all.
He saw the maidservant flinch as the young wizard cast a spell, saw Eidola and Piergeiron follow the shapeshifter and battle it, saw the two guards form their hands into claws and drag the body to the nearest jakes.
And there was more. much more.
Peering past the half-closed door, Noph saw the guards fully transform into crablike things. Their eyes rose on stalks above their horny skulls and their bodies became hard and bristly. With their pinchers, they quickly shredded the body. They ate what they could-muscle and gristle and brain. The rest, they fed down the jakes, into the infamous sewers of Waterdeep. Noph imagined he could hear the masticating jaws of even nastier things below.
That was when he climbed up into the rafters.
Now, the monsters transformed again, into two differentlooking guards. The men effetely dabbed the last spots of sizzling blood from their uniforms. In smug satisfaction, they nodded to each other and walked back toward the party, strolling beneath the spot where Noph crouched.
This noble wedding wasn't so boring after all.
Noph waited until the beasts were long gone before he tried to get down. Though he tried to imitate the silent grace of a cat, one leg cuff caught on a nail, and he did a complete flip before crashing to the floor. He was on his feet again before he knew if he could stand, and looked quickly up and down the hall. The shapeshifting guards were nowhere to be seen, and no one else was about. He stood straight and brushed himself off, well pleased despite the fall.
The sting of pride had quickly given place to the tingle of anticipation. Mystery! Adventure! Paladins and princesses and clawed villains!
He'd been lucky so far, happening upon the culprits in the midst of their crimes. Now, though, the trail had gone cold. Where should he go next to unravel this mystery?
Follow the money. That's what his father had always advised. For Laskar Nesher, me money had led to disreputable lumber deals. For shapeshifters, the money would lead to… the city treasury? No, someone wanting to get to the treasury would have posed as a guard, not as a maidservant. The only reason to masquerade as a maidservant was to get close to Eidola.
Yes, Eidola, but why? Some Waterdhavians thought her a bad match for Piergeiron. Some even felt the Open Lord should be removed from office due to his lack of judgment. After all, the bedchamber is more persuasive than the council chamber. By marrying Piergetron, this mystery woman could wield untold power over the city.
There were whispers of a price laid on her head.
That's it! Assassins! They'd infiltrated the ranks of the servants and the guards!
No, Noph thought a moment later. As appealing as it was to think of noble assassins, a shot from afar could kill more easily and safely than a monster disguised as a chambermaid. Besides, as guards and servants, the shapechanging creatures have had many other opportunities to kill Eidola and haven't done so.
They must want something else, Noph thought, and must need to get close to Eidola to get it… But why?
Follow the money, Noph repeated to himself.
The much-touted trade route to Kara-Tur-now there was some money to be followed- Noph's father had said that final approval of the route depended on Eidola. The last holdouts against the pact were kin of Eidola, and they
